Announcement Page
Forensic Osteology Workshop
Last updated - xxxxxxx
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Once you have registered, please check this site on a regular basis for workshop info & updates. WE WILL BE SPENDING A LOT OF TIME IN THE FORENSICS LAB - EVEN ON THE LECTURE DAY. THE LAB IS COLD! PLEASE BRING LAYERS OF CLOTHING FOR YOUR COMFORT:)
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MAPS & ACCESS Park in the M6 Parking Lot and take the walkway to the L-WING portion of the main building. Both the lecture and lab will be in L-254 - on the second floor of the L-Wing. My office is L-233, also on the second floor.
Maps can be found at the following URL: http://your.parkland.edu/about/maps.aspx Mattis Ave heads North to intersect with BLOOMINGTON Rd. If you take Bloomington Rd. EAST, it will take you to PROSPECT AVE. If you take Prospect Ave NORTH, you will see the Drury Inn after you cross the I-74 overpass. If you take Mattis North and go past Bloomington Rd (and over the I-74 overpass) you will eventually come to Olympia Dr. - which is the road that the Microtel Inn is located on.
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INFO AT A GLANCE:
John's office: L-233 If you need to find me on break, I may be in my office.
Lab Room: L-254
Lecture Room: L- TBA
Emergency Contact: 217-351-2369 This is the off-campus number to access Parkland College Public Safety. They will be able to convey a message to any of the workshop participants.
John's office (L-233) is easy to find!
Just search for something that looks like this.
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THE TEMPERATURE IN THE LAB CAN BE A LITTLE ON THE COLD SIDE AT TIMES, AND IT APPEARS THAT THE COMPUTER (I believe his name is HAL) HAS ABSOLUTE & TOTAL CONTROL OVER EVERYTHING. Please dress in layers. (I think we set a record last year!! Using one of our calibrated autopsy/liver thermometers, we recorded a lab temp of 59 degrees. This may be inconvenient, but it is far better than the previous several weeks where there was NO air-conditioning OR ventilation in the labs!!!!!!!)
Lodging - If you would like to split costs and share a room with another workshop participant, please e-mail me with your request. I will attempt to get you connected with any other participants who would like to do the same. - jm
The Tooth Fairy at work! (Let's see.... at 25 cents each, hmmmmmmmmm...)
Workshop Overview
It is my most sincere hope that you leave our Forensic Osteology Workshop having learned much, as well as having made many new friends. I have had nothing but excellent experiences at the many workshops, seminars, and short courses I have attended over the years, and it is my hope and intention that you experience the same during your short visit to Parkland College. Please let me know if there is anything that detracts from your learning experience, or that might improve the session. If it is within my control, I will certainly attempt to meet your requests. I have been to a wide variety of workshops and short courses over the past 2-3 decades. Many sponsors have gone out of their way to make the experience pleasurable for the participants attending, i.e., catered breakfasts, transportation to and from the airports, transportation to and from the hotels, etc., etc. OTOH - most of the places that have been able to offer such niceties have also been fairly large institutions or universities - with a near-endless supply of graduate students to do the vast majority of the legwork. At Parkland - I am it! I have no assistants, no departmental budget, the sports teams snitch the van every weekend, etc., etc. I say this to simply forewarn you that this will be - are you ready for this? - a rather "bare bones" workshop in terms of the above-described amenities. Hopefully I can impress you with the material in such a way that you won't miss the other aspects that the big schools can offer. We will, however, meet for a group meal after the Friday workshop, and that is usually a very enjoyable affair! Related to our shoestring operations, we pretty much aren't set up to do refunds. However, we can easily apply your fee to a future workshop. Even if the price increases, you will not have to pay any additional funds.
This lab portion of the workshop will be run in a traditional "hands-on" lab format. There will be very short "chalk & talk" presentations, followed by the hands on labs. With a few exceptions & restrictions associated with ongoing cases, you will be allowed to photograph most specimens that we use in lab.
Many of the specimens you will be handling are professionally prepared bones from biological supply houses, i.e., they have been boiled and bleached. Some specimens will be - shall we say - a little less pristine, and you will be wearing gloves while examining them. Our supply of latex-free gloves tends to wax and wane. While I will try to sequester a supply for any participants who may have allergies, it also wouldn't be a bad idea to bring some along with you if required.
Some other items you might want to consider are:
• camera
• notebook
• reading glasses / magnifying glass - (We will be looking at knife cuts & saw marks in bone, which can be somewhat difficult to see for some eyes. Any assistance you might need will probably be beneficial. We will have some magnifying glasses in lab.)
• snacks - Although the college officially frowns on eating in classrooms & labs, I am "old school" and bend the rules quite often on a regular basis. If you don't think you will care for the vending machine snacks - by all means feel free to bring something more to your liking. The campus snack bar should also be open on Friday but not Saturday.
1) After the deadline for the workshop you will be sent a confirmatory e-mail. If you are staying at some other lodging than those listed at this webpage, please contact me personally and I will give you directions specific to your location. Parkland is under one roof - and it can be very confusing the first few times you come on campus! Please allow sufficient time to locate the classroom on the first day.
2) I will make reservations at a local restaurant for Friday evening following the workshop. (We have some really great barbeque places in town also, but some folks aren't really into having ribs following a day of looking at bones!)
3) Please let me know ASAP if you have any special considerations or requirements. Parkland College is ADA accessible, including the lab facilities. I will route you through alternate entrances if you have such a requirement.
4) I will leave sufficient time for an off-campus lunch, if the snack bar doesn't appeal to you. We can hopefully carpool and get everyone too and from the restaurant quickly. During class breaks, there will be access to nearby vending machines that have the standard selection of pop, water, and junkfood-based snacks.
5) The departmental computer lab has been (thankfully!!!) dismantled, therefore access is limited. If you absolutely must check e-mail, you are welcome to use the terminal in the forensics lab.
